Monday, September 7, 2009

Crappy Customer Service


In honor of Labor Day, I'm going to post my thoughts on customer service.

It's something that's gone the wayside in the service industry these days.

How long are you put on hold when you call a company?
Do you even get a human voice?

It makes a huge difference to me if I'm served my food with a smile.

If you go somewhere with crappy customer service, do you want to return?

When I think of a place that has good customer service, Starbucks comes to mind.
They create a feeling there that not many other places attempt.
(Remember my Singing for Starbucks moment?!!)
It's called the Starbucks Experience.

As a consumer, I want:

To be listened to.
Not to be lied to.
To be greeted warmly
To be treated fairly.
To be able to deal with someone who has KNOWLEDGE about their product.
And to get a little extra than I expect.

I want to help the company I work for produce excellent customer service.

So, share!

Share your good customer service experiences or ideas...and your bad experiences as well.

Because we can learn from BOTH.

5 comments:

Jen said...

I have always worked in the customer service field. I really try my best to treat people how I would like to be treated and for the most part it works. But I am not perfect, no where close. But i try.

Unknown said...

I haven't recieved and noteworthy customer service lately...but here's my biggest problem with poor service...

Certain companys dont have a number you can call or cancel or complain or ask questions...Usually its with company's where you order something "free for 30 days"...There is never a way to actually cancel without a ton of hassle....

Ugh...

Screwed Up Texan said...

One of the best customer service experiences I have had was when I went to Pei Wei for the first time. The manager discovered it was my first time at the one in Highland Village, so he gave me a plate of crab rangoons to try for free. It was so memorable to me that I still remember the manager's name--James.

On the other hand, one of the worst customer service issues I have had was with Vonage. My husband and I were having problems getting their VOIP service to work with Verizon FIOS and so we called the customer service department just to be transferred to some rep in India. The Indian accent was so thick and their customer service so poor that even after being redirected at least ten times we still couldn't understand what the heck they were saying to us. Frustrated, we returned the product just to find out that all our friends who had Vonage could no longer call us. This went on for two years until one day in frustration I revealed my frustrations on Twitter. Immediately they had my problem resolved in less than 24 hours. Still, my experience was so bad with them to start with that I will never use their VOIP service.

Tam said...

I just had this convo with the HUBS how I was fed up with customer service everywhere! Rack Room Shoes is a place I will never buy shoes from again. Their Employess were rude and well I am sorry to say but IDIOTS! As consumers we need to stand together and start being respected again. I know some people hate their jobs and I GET IT but still I a so tired of being treated poorly!

AdriansCrazyLife said...

Best experience - Wendy's. Half the time, they have the bag of food hanging out the window by the time I pay for it and they almost always get my order right.

Worst experience - when I had a computer virus last Christmas vacation. I spent eight HOURS on the phone with tech support trying to get all the problems resolved.